In this essay I will be discussing the role that the
media plays in shaping our views or opinions on any one group in society and if
the representation of these groups is positive or negative.
An example of negative representation of a group in
society is the way female companions are presented in the Bond films,
especially the ones that were made in the 60s and 70s. This can be inferred
from the lines that the Bond character says in many of the films; for example, in
the 1974 film, ‘The Man with The Golden Gun’, Bond says: “Miss Anders! I didn’t
recognise you with your clothes on.” This suggests that female characters in
the early Bond films were portrayed as sexual objects. Moreover, the way
females were viewed in a 1960s/1970s society massively influenced the way that
they were portrayed in the Bond films. However, this is still the case in more
recent Bond films such as Skyfall (2012) regardless of the fact that society
has changed more dramatically in the past few decades. For example, in the
aforementioned film, a female called Evie says “Room service” but Bond replies
quite bluntly and rudely by saying “I didn’t order anything, not even you”.
This suggests that there is still an influence of sexism from today’s society
regardless of that fact of how much it has moved on in so many decades. On the
contrary, it may also depict that the average male wants to aspire to be like James
Bond.
An example of positive representation of a group in
society is the way alpha males are portrayed in films such as the 300 (2006)
and Fight Club (1999). First of all, 300 appeals to the generic male audience
as it has gratuitous violence and gore, fight scenes and harsh language.
However, it also depicts King Leonidas as a loving and caring husband and
father regardless of the war that he and his men are in. This shows that any
man regardless of what they do can still be a caring family man at heart.
However, there is negative representation of black
people in the 300 scene, in which a messenger of black colour, is kicked down a
well by Leonidas to his unfortunate death. It is suggesting that all Persians
in that time period were black which was probably untrue, although we do not
know that for sure.
Another example of positive representation of the alpha
male is in the film Fight Club. It may
depict a fighting culture in a club environment, however, it teaches the people
in fight club rules and values to live their lives by. It also encourages
recreational fighting between the males but also teaches us about the problems
that people have with insomnia, which is the mental illness that the main
character has. It also convinces us that you can still love someone without a
mental illness affecting the relationship.
